Blocking device for hand crank drives on automobile sliding roofs

ABSTRACT

A blocking device for hand crank drives on automobile sliding roofs, comprising a crank arm, carrying at its end a crank knob and pivotally attached to a rotatable hub plate fixed to the crank pedestal and capable of being folded in over the crank pedestal into a seating slit of the hub plate and locking in a spring-like manner in its two limiting positions. The crank knob of this crank arm, when the crank arm is in its folded-in position, is situated in a pot-shaped depression of a dish, which is non-rotatably fixed concentrically to the crankshaft and surrounds the hub plate, characterized in that a plurality of pot-shaped depressions are disposed at uniform intervals around the circumference of the dish. The walls of these depressions are oriented approximately perpendicularly to the cranking plane.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a blocking device for hand crank drives onautomobile sliding roofs, comprising a crank arm, carrying at its end acrank knob and pivotally attached to a rotatable hub plate fixed to thecrank pedestal and capable of being folded back over the crank pedestalinto a seating slit of the hub plate and locking in a resilient mannerin each of its two limiting positions, the crank knob of this crank arm,in a potshaped depression of a dish which is non-rotatably fixedconcentrically to the crankshaft and surrounds the hub plate.

In the past, hand crank drives for automobile sliding roofs have notbeen fitted with a braking device or blocking device, so that under theinfluence of external forces an undesired sliding of the roof panel inthe roof opening can occur, for example under the action of highdeceleration forces, such as can easily occur when the brakes are fullyapplied or in an accident. This means that, when the sliding roof isopen, the pushed-back panel is accelerated forwards into its closedposition. This leads to a risk of injury for the occupants of thevehicle.

The lack of a blocking or braking device is an especially evidentnuisance in so-called sliding and lifting roofs. These are sliding roofsin which the sliding panel can, as desired, either be swung out byraising its rear edge above the roof surface in the manner offront-pivoted ventilator flaps or can be slid beneath the rear,staionary roof surface. When the sliding panel is swung out, forcesacting in the vertical direction, such as can occur for instance intravel vibrations, supplemented by the self-weight of the panel can leadto an unintentional lowering of the rear panel edge.

In one known device (DT-AS 1, 219, 342) of the initially mentionedcategory, a rotational locking for the crank arm is indeed to beachieved in the sunken position by the crank knob entering into thepot-shaped depression, but the sunken position is only reached onceduring each full crank revolution. Each full crank revolution isequivalent, however, to a considerable longitudinal displacement of thepanel, for example of the order of 5 cm. The known device is thereforesuitable only for pure sliding roofs, but not for sliding and liftingroofs, because a full pivoting out movement of the panel requires, forinstance, only three complete crank revolutions. Moreover, in the knowndevice, the effectiveness of the blocking action is at least partlycancelled by the wall regions of the pot-shaped depression being soinclined that, if a reversed driving motion is transmitted through thepanel driving system, the crank knob can easily be expelled from thepot-shaped depression due to the sloping walls, so that the desiredblocking action is completely lost. This is, moreover, not prevented bythe spring-loaded snap device which determines the limiting positions ofthe crank arm, because this device is not suitable for accepting theforces which occur when such a reversed driving action takes place.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The task underlying the present invention therefore is to create ablocking device, which permits a finely stepped fixing of the slidingpanel over its entire range of movement, which can be used both forsliding roofs and also for sliding and lifting roofs, and in which thehand crank drive is effectively blocked even for high reversed drivingforces.

Starting from a blocking device of the initially mentioned category,this task is solved in the invention by the fact that a plurality ofpot-shaped depressions are disposed at uniform intervals around theperiphery of the dish, the walls of these depressions beingapproximately perpendicular to the plane of the crank.

With this blocking device, the crank knob can be inserted into apot-shaped depression in many angular positions of the crank arm, sothat very small displacements and pivoting movements of the panel can beachieved. Depending upon the diameter of the dish and the number ofpot-shaped depressions dependent thereon, it is possible for an openingadjustment of the panel of about 4 to 5 mm to be accurately observedfrom one stop location to the next, that is from depression todepression. This fineness of adjustment is in particular of importancefor the outward pivoting movement of the panel in a sliding-liftingroof. By means of the invention, almost infinitely fine adjustment ofthe sliding roof is possible, in combination with reliable blocking ofthe crank arm in every position. The walls of the pot-shapeddepressions, being oriented approximately perpendicularly to thecranking plane, prevent the crank knob from coming out of thedepressions under the action of the reversed drive forces.

Pursuant to the concept of this invention, the blocked positions of thecrank arm and crank knob do not have the be denoted by pot-shapeddepressions. Indeed, the arrangement may be such that, instead ofpot-shaped depressions in the dish, a plurality of ribs or the likeoriented perpendicularly to the plane of the crank and radially to thecrank shaft at uniform angular intervals may be provided, each twoadjacent ribs receiving and seating the crank knob between them when thecrank arm is folded in.

Within the concept of this invention it is, however, also possible forthe arrangement to be such that the dish possesses substantially theform of a regular polygon, the corner-forming walls of which areoriented approximately perpendicularly to the cranking plane and, whenthe crank arm is folded in, tangentially touch the crank knob on twosides as it is situated in a corner. In this form of embodiment of theinvention also, the crank knob is reliably blocked by the walls of thedish bearing against it, in the folded-in position of the crank arm.

Further features of the invention are explained in more detail belowwith reference to drawings illustrating examples of embodiment thereof.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings show:

FIG. 1 A plan view of a blocking device with the crank arm folded in,

FIG. 2 a section along II--II of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 a section along III--III of FIG. 1,

FIG. 4 a plan view of the device similar to FIG. 1, but with the crankarm swung out,

FIG. 5 a section along V--V of FIG. 4,

FIG. 6 a partly cut away section along VI--VI of FIG. 3,

FIG. 7 a plan on another form of embodiment of the blocking device withthe hub plate and crank partly cut away,

FIG. 8 a section along VIII--VIII of FIG. 7 through the dish only,

FIG. 9 a plan on a further form of embodiment of the blocking devicewith the hub plate and crank arm partly cut away, and

FIG. 10 a section along X--X in FIG. 9, through the dish only.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

To explain the first form of embodiment, reference is the first made toFIGS. 1 to 6. As can be seen from FIGS. 3 and 5, the dish, generallysurrounding the hand crank drive and the blocking device and bearing thegeneral reference 1, is fixed by means of screws 2, together with a gearassembly 3, to a supporting plate 4 lying in a general horizontal planeand forming part of the roof structure, not shown. The supporting plate4 may, for instance, be formed of the base of the front frame member ofthe sliding roof frame which usually surrounds the roof opening. In thisconnection it is important for the purposes of the invention for thegear assembly 3 to be situated above the dish 1, that is to say theposition of the gear assembly does not interfere with the form of thedish 1, which is essential for the blocking device.

On its output side, the gear assembly 3 possesses a gear pinion 5, whichengages in known manner with force-transmitting elements of the slidingroof drive, formed in the manner of toothed racks, but flexible.Normally, elastically flexible cables are used as force-transmittingelements, which are furnished with a helical thread for engaging withthe gear pinion and are axially slidably guided in a thrust-transmittingmanner in guide ducts mounted upon the sliding roof frame.

On its input side, the gear assembly possesses a crankshaft 6, which isfurnished with a splined head 7, which extends through a centralaperture 8 of the dish 1 into the internal space of the dish. Betweenthe crankshaft 6 and the pinion 5, there is a reduction gear (notshown), which makes possible fine adjustments of the sliding panel, suchas are desirable especially for the pivoting-out and in function ofsliding and lifting roofs. As explained further on, the possibility offine adjustment given by the reduction gear can be utilized to the fullby the practically infinitely adjustable setting of the blocking device.

The crank pedestal 9 is pushed onto the splined head 7, the pedestalbeing furnished with a corresponding internal spline, and is securedthere by a screw 10. In the example illustrated, the crank pedestal 9penetrates into the central aperture 8 of the dish 1. The crank pedestal9 possesses a radially projecting bearing fork, the fork arms 36 ofwhich can be seen in FIG. 4. The foldable crank arm 12 is pivotallyjournalled on a bearing pin 11, pushed through the fork arms 36. FIGS. 1and 3 on the one hand and 4 and 5 on the other hand illustrate the twopossible limiting positions of the crank arm 12. Both limiting positionsare arrested in known manner by detent pins 13, which are slidablymounted in the crank arm 12 and subject to the force of a helicalcompression spring 14 (FIG. 4). Two pairs of detent bores 15 and 16,disposed in the fork arms 36, are associated with the detent pins 13 forfixing the two aforementioned limiting positions. When the crank arm isswung out into the operating position, the detent pins 13 are situatedin the detent bores 15, the crank arm 12 bearing with a stop device 17against a pivot path-limiting projection 18 of the crank pedestal 9.

In the swung-out position, the crank arm points obliquely downwards, thecrank knob 19 rotatably mounted on its one end being so oriented thatits axis extends parallel to that of the crankshaft 6. In this position,the crank knob 19 is at a sufficient distance from the undersidesurfaces of the vehicle roof for the crank to be operated withouthindrance.

The hub plate bearing the general reference 20 is fixed to the crankpedestal 9, with advantage by means of the already mentioned screw 10.The seating slit 21, formed in the hub plate 20, is so dimensioned thatthe folded-in crank arm 12 adopts a sunken position practically flushwith the external face of the hub plate (FIGS. 1 to 3). To enable thecrank arm 12 to be pivoted out, the hub plate 20 is furnished on eachside of the seating slit 21 with finger depressions 22. The same purposeis served by finger grip surfaces 23, formed in the crank arm 12, whichare opposite to the finger depressions 22 when the crank arm 12 isfolded in.

In the example of embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 6, eightpot-shaped depressions 24 are disposed at uniform angular intervalsaround the periphery of the dish 1, all of these depressions beingsuitable for seating the crank knob 19 in the folded-in position of thecrank arm. The internal wall faces of the pot-shaped depressions 24 areapproximately perpendicular to the cranking plane, that is to say to theplane defined by the crank knob 19 as the swung-out crank arm 12 isrotated. Each of the pot-shaped depressions 24 therefore encloses ssubstantially cylindrical space, the axis of which is parallel to theaxis of the crankshaft 6. The diameter of this cylindrical space is onlyslightly greater than the maximum diameter of the crank knob 19, sothat, when the crank arm 12 is swung in, this knob is closely surroundedby the wall of the pot-shaped depression 24, into which the crank knob19 has entered as the crank arm 12 was swung in.

In this manner, assurance is provided that the crank knob 19, whenreversed driving forces are introduced via the pinion 5, bears firmlyagainst the inner wall face of the pot-shaped depression, into which itsank as the crank arm was folded in. This leads to a reliable rotationalblocking of the folded-in crank arm, so that the sliding roof, even whenvery large external forces act, remains firmly in its set position.

The large number of pot-shaped depressions provided makes possible avery finely stepped and therefore practically infinitely adjustablesetting of the sliding panel. The sliding panel can therefore be finelyadjusted, both in its sliding function and also in its pivoting-outfunction, to suit the vehicle speed, the external weather conditions andthe individual requirements of the occupants, a reliable blocking ofrotation being attained in each of its possible positions.

The form of the pot-shaped depressions 24 is of decisive importance forthe effectiveness of the blocking device. The wall faces of thepot-shaped depressions, associated with the crank knob 19 orientedperpendicularly to the cranking plane, should be as close as possible tothe crank knob and as far as possible encompass it. In order to satisfythis condition, it is of importance for the finger grip on the handcrank drive for pivoting out the crank arm 12 not to be situated in theregion of the crank knob 19, but as described in the region of thefinger depressions 22 and the finger grip surfaces 23.

As can be seen from FIGS. 1 and 4, the dish 1 has a circular periphery,which is formed of an outwardly bent, peripheral flange rim 25. Theflange rim 25 overlaps the roof inner surface 26 surrounding the handcrank drive, so that the dish 1 appears as a depression in the roofsurface, which is however practically completely closed by the hub plate20. The hub plate 20 also bridges over portions of the pot-shapeddepressions 24, for which reason the hub plate is also equipped at theouter end of the seating slit 21 with an arc-shaped recess 35, whichpermits the crank knob 19 to be sunk into the selected pot-shapeddepression 24.

The example of embodiment shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 differs from that ofFIGS. 1 to 6 essentially in the form of the dish 1'. The other elementsof the blocking device and of the hand crank drive are the same as thosealready described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 6. In order to illustratethe position of the components visible from outside, only the hub plate20 and crank arm 12 together with crank knob 19 are shown in FIG. 7partly cut away. In this example of embodiment, the dish 1' has anapproximately cylindrical peripheral wall 27 and a base 28, which isthickened in the vicinity of the central aperture 8' and the fixingbores 29. The base 28 and circumferential wall 27 are adjoined byradially oriented ribs 30, which in co-operation with thecircumferential wall 27 each define in pairs a seating space 31 for thecrank knob 19. The seating spaces 31 correspond in their function to thepot-shaped depressions 24 of the embodiment according to FIGS. 1 to 6.For this purpose, the ribs 30 are likewise oriented approximatelyperpendicularly to the cranking plane. In this form of embodiment also,the crank knob, when sunk into a seating space 31 when the crank arm isfolded in, ensures that the sliding panel is reliably blocked whenexternal forces occur. Whereas in the example according to FIGS. 1 to 6,eight pot-shaped depressions are provided, the embodiment of theblocking device according to FIGS. 7 and 8, consequent upon therelatively small thickness of the ribs 30, makes possible the provisionof a larger number of seating spaces 31, twelve in number in the exampleof embodiment illustrated. The possibilities of adjustment for thesliding panel are therefore still more finely stepped in this example ofembodiment. To enable the hub plate 20 to be housed in the dish 1', theribs 30 possess identical cut-away portions 32 outside their regionaffected by the crank knob 19.

As can be seen from FIGS. 9 and 10, the blocking device can also beconstructed without pot-shaped depressions or ribs, by the dish 1"possessing, in its region which is of importance for the functioning ofthe blocking device, the form of a regular polygon, in the exampleillustrated that of a square. Here, the deepened region of the dish 1",intended for seating the hub plate, again shown cut away in FIG. 9, hasa square cross-section. The peripheral wall 33 of the deepened portionis, in this embodiment also, oriented approximately perpendicularly tothe cranking plane. When the dish is of square shape, a seating space 34for the crank knob 19 is formed in each of the four corners, thecorner-forming regions of the peripheral wall 33 touching the insertedcrank knob tangentially on two sides. Here again, an effectiverotational blocking, when the crank arm 12 is folded in, is ensured. Itis of course also possible for regular polygons to be used for formingthe shell 1", which have a higher number of corners and therefore permita finer stepping of the adjustment of the sliding pane. The flange rim25" of the dish 1" can also be of circular shape as shown, like theflange rims 25 in the example of embodiment of FIGS. 1 to 6 and flangerim 25' in the example according to FIGS. 7 and 8. The flange rim 25"can, however, also be polygonal, for example square, following the edgepattern of the polygonal depression.

In all the examples of embodiment explained, the dish can easily beinjection moulded from a suitable plastics material, which retains itsform even under high mechanical loading. This is also true for the otherparts of the device, for example for the hub plate 20 and crank arm 12.

I claim:
 1. A blocking device for hand crank drives on automobilesliding roofs, comprising a crank arm, carrying at its end a crank knoband pivotally attached to a rotatable hub plate fixed to the crankpedestal and capable of being folded in over the crank pedestal into aseating slit of the hub plate and locking in a spring-like manner in itstwo limiting positions, the crank knob of this crank arm, when the crankarm is in its folded-in position, being situated in a pot-shapeddepression of a dish, which is non-rotatably fixed concentrically to thecrankshaft and surrounds the hub plate, characterised in that aplurality of pot-shaped depressions (24) are disposed at uniformintervals around the circumference of the dish (1), the walls of thesedepressions being oriented approximately perpendicularly to the crankingplane.